7 Dead, 100 Injured After Two Trains Collide South of Cairo
A Giza to Fayoum train struck a Cairo to Aswan service in a crash that derailed multiple carriages.
By Ricardo Brooks ·
Egypt’s rail network experienced a major accident on Sunday when two passenger trains collided south of the capital. The Egyptian chief prosecutor’s office confirmed that at least seven people died in the crash. More than 100 others sustained injuries in the incident.
The collision occurred in the al-Ayyat district of Giza province. This location sits roughly 52 kilometers, or 32 miles, south of Cairo. The Egyptian Transportation Ministry identified the vehicles involved in the crash. A train heading to the southwestern province of Fayoum struck the rear of another train. That second train was traveling from Cairo to Aswan in the south.
Both the Transportation Ministry and the state railway authority reported that at least one train left the tracks during the impact. The ministry did not specify which train derailed. However, it confirmed that a conductor from one of the services was among the seven fatalities. AFP journalists at the scene described the physical damage to the rolling stock. Several carriages lay on their sides in the wreckage. One end of a train had crumpled into a tangle of steel. The other train’s rear car split open and fell off the tracks into a neighboring farm.
First responders and bystanders worked to extract victims from the debris. Images from the site showed personnel lifting one victim from the wreckage inside a black body bag. Emergency crews are currently working to clear the wreckage. They aim to restore service on the Cairo-Upper Egypt line. The railway authority has not provided a timeline for when operations will resume.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ordered a swift investigation into the disaster. In a separate statement, he said anyone found negligent should be held accountable. Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office stated that investigations were already underway to establish the technical causes of the crash. The country operates one of the oldest and largest railway networks in the region. Deadly accidents remain frequent despite government spending on modernization.
The al-Ayyat district has seen similar incidents in the past. In September of last year, two freight trains collided in the same area. That accident injured a driver and his assistant. The country’s worst rail disaster occurred in 2002. A fire swept through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train at that time. At least 360 people died in that event.
